I’ve been asked by the kids’ school Parent Teacher Association to do a stall at their summer fair.  I haven’t done a stall for years, and even when I did, it wasn’t that successful.  I’m guessing a bit of local interest sells, here’s my long list of images (which may well find their way in to my Landscape Photographer of the Year submission).  I’ve got 10 x square mounts, 10 x 9 x7, and 4 x 16 x12 mounts.  I’m looking at doing a number of hand made cards as well, so that most prices ranges are covered. I’d appreciate any comments and feed back on what might or might not sell.

So, I have in many of my posts mentioned the Neolthic and Bronze Ages.  Below is a quick crib sheet of the what these refer to in terms of time. That said there is no clear divider/event (save for 1066) that brought say the Bronze Age to an end and the Iron Age to begin.

• Before 8500 BCE : Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age
• 8500 – 4000 BCE : Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age
• 4000 – 2000 BCE : Neolithic or New Stone Age
• 2000 – 700 BCE : Bronze Age
• 700BCE – 43 CE : Iron Age
• 43 – 410 CE : Roman
• 410 – 1066 CE : Early Medieval
• 1066 – 1500 CE  : Late Medieval
• 1500 – 1750 CE : Post Medieval
• 1750 – 1900 CE : Early Modern
• 1900 CE Onwards : Modern

So there you go.  I have used the terms BCE and CE (Before Common Era and Common Era) for more about that, have a look here.

Gardoms Edge in the Mist

After much anticipation and speculation on Twitter as to what the weather would be like on Sunday (March 25th) I ventured out in the hope of mist.  There was none in Sheffield, but as I drove on the Baslow road and got near to where the Barbrook stone circles are I could look down the valley towards Baslow and was comforted by the near treacherous bank of mist that I saw as I rounded the corner.  It was a glorious day, the sun was struggling to come through and was casting shafts of light through the mist bound trees – but just not enough to make it work in camera I’m afraid (maybe I should pack smoke bombs next time? – joke!).  The amazing thing was that I had the place to myself, the only thing detracting from it all was the noise of rubber on the main roads that converge at the roundabout just out side of Baslow.  Aside from that it was perfectly still.

I did some photography as I entered the main woods at the stile, shooting in to the mist cloaked sun using Provia 100F.  Lightroom 4 makes light work of making the best of such situations.  Walking out along the Edge the mist got thicker again which made it all the more atmospheric.  I then headed towards Gardoms Standing Stone which is near the first wall that you encounter as you walk along the Edge.  I spent a long time here, working on a shot with the Bronica and then doing a number of pinhole shots of the stone both landscape and details (these were done on Ilford FP4 and have yet to be developed).  Thinking about my process, I don’t honestly think if I had brought my digital SLR I could have achieved what I did that day with film.  Using film slowed me down, made me more measured in what I was doing.  I could have seen myself spraying and praying with the SLR and getting no where close to what I achieved on film.

After a while I headed off in search of Gardoms Pit Alignment. I *think* I found it, certainly I found a line that may have been a filled in trench – but this could have been a series of pits that have become over grown over the millennia- which would have been the pit alignment.  Anyway, its not very photogenic, so I did a number of details of a birch and a pool of water, before heading off again.  My last stop before home was to find a good bit of Gardoms Enclosure , which is in-effect a large non-defensive Neolithic/Early Bronze age wall which went enclosed the top of the Edge.  Lots of interesting shots I felt – but I have yet to develop anything.

I don’t think I have used my pinhole camera since my initial shots that I took with it back in June last year for “traditional” landscapes, concentrating as I have done on my Derbyshire Megaliths Pinhole Project.  So it was with some trepidation that I took these at Whitby Abbey.  Only one is I guess a true landscape, the rest being architectural.  Still, its quite nice to try something different to what I have normally been up to with my pinhole camera even if its not original.  I then went on to try my hand at pinhole portraiture – trying to keep a 4 year old still is the trick!

Tried my hand at pinhole portraiture.  I’m reasonably pleased with the results.  Quite an achievement to get a four year old to stand this still for three seconds.  I always keep coming back to the problem of pinhole, is that I never seem to be close enough – Imogen here is about three feet away.

Imogen at Whitby Abbey

Saltwick Bay, North Yorkshire Coast Mini Project

I‘ve been to Saltwick Bay once before whilst on my first photography workshop, quite an interesting place, especially the large flat rock shelf and the patterns present in the rock.  The main attraction for the photographer is of course Black Nab and the wreck of the Admiral Von Tromp, which ran a ground in 1976.  For more information on photographing Saltwick Bay have a look here at this excellent guide.

I was there with my family after a very impromptu decision to head up to Whitby in our campervan (Diggy) for the night.   Having family with me meant that I couldn’t indulge in photography that much.  This meant no long moments of pondering a shot, to then decide not to take it.  Instead, I opted to do what may be called landscape abstracts.  It allowed me to spend  time just contemplating one thing and to appreciate it from a number of angles. I think it led to quite an interesting concentrated series of shots that may be  (in my opinion) some of the best images I’ve made for a while.

Filey Bay, North Yorkshire Mini Project

We went away on our first ever trip in “Diggy” our Bongo/Freda last weekend(10th March) for an overnight at Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast.  I think I scored quite well on the husband points, considering the campsite we stayed at was directly above Saltwick Bay and THAT Black Nab.  I did take some shots of Black Nab, but nothing any different to anything else you’ll see.  I’m holding out to see what my pinhole results are like.   Sods law though, when packing film I decided against taking my Ilford Pan F with me (an ISO 50 film), as it was very bright and clear. So the shots that I have are taken on Fujifilm Provia 100F, the alternative was the slightly faster Ilford FP4 Plus.

Anyway, more of Saltwick Bay in another post.  We ventured further down the coast to Filey Bay, and down a small lane we came to a muddy car park, but it did give us access to the massive beach that is there.  Clearly during the Second World War given the expanse of the beach the government thought it be a good place to land on as there is a lot of ruined bunkers all undermined by the encroaching sea, but there I guess to defend the beach in times gone by.

Whilst the kids played and my ever patient Jacqueline supervised I set myself a task of doing a quick project.  I’m beginning to think that looking upon everything as a project, no matter the size and scope, is for the moment at least a good way of making pictures.  It means that I start to look for relationships between the current image and what I’m taking next to link them and keep a flow as best I can.  In doing so perhaps I gain a greater appreciation of what is around me, certainly it makes what I did feel more complete.

For the entire mini project have a look here.

Filey Bay III

Filey Bay VII

Filey Bay VI

Filey Bay VIII

Okay, so its a poor play on words!

Days of Future Passed, Sunset on the Winter Solstice at Barbrook I Stone Circle

I’m beginning to get quite taken with shooting in to the sun with my pinhole camera – the effects can be quite interesting as its just pure unfiltered light on to film, no lenses or grads to get in the way.  The shot above, made at sunset at the winter solstice actually shows multiple sun sets, as the sun moved behind clouds over this 30 minute exposure.  It should have been 40 plus minutes but as the skies cleared the exposure got shorter and shorter until I just guessed that the film had been exposed for long enough!   I’m very pleased with the shot, especially the ghosting of the people as they stand and watch the end of the days of darkness and look towards longer days again.

Low Winter Sun, Gardoms Edge, Derbyshire Peak District

I particularly like this shot, taken in early January 2012 when the sun doesn’t get particularly high in the sky anyway.  I like especially the randomness of the rays of light bursting through the trees.  This shot is of a carved stone on Gardoms Edge just above Baslow.  I brought out the detail on the stone using a bottle of water.  I think it worked quite well.  The stone itself is interesting, as its actually fake.  The original stone is buried underneath.  The powers that be having taken the decision to make a cast and place it on top of the original as despite only being discovered in the 1960′s the stone was showing signs of wear as people do what people do and finger the carvings.  The fibreglass mould is quite convincing and you wouldn’t doubt it was the real thing, until that is you tap it and you realise it sounds like an up turned dinghy.  For more information on Gardoms Edge please follow this link.

Dawn within Barbrook II Stone Circle, Derbyshire Peak District

A more obvious “dawn” shot using my Zero Image 612B pinhole camera. I love the exposure in this picture, over exposed and blown out in places in the middle through to dark and heavy vignetting  on the edges.  It is full of character.  The big skies capture the essence of the place and for me its what these Neolithic/Early Bronze Age temples (as such) where all about : a place that connects man with the earth and the sky.  Something perhaps that modern temples with their roofs’ miss.  For more reading on stones circles and the relationship to the land have a read of Julian Cope’s book The Modern Antiquarian: A Pre-millennial Odyssey Through Megalithic Britain : Including a Gazetteer to Over 300 Prehistoric Sites.  A very interesting book to dip in and out of, though do make your own opinions.

Nine Stones Close Stone Circle in the Snow

Nine Stones Close Stone Circle, Birchover, Derbyshire Peak District

What an excellent morning!  I gingerly drove out to Nine Stones Close Stone Circle this morning, in anticipation of getting this shot.  It took probably 90 minutes via Baslow and the stunning Chatworth Estate from Sheffield (50 minutes longer than normal), plus a walk in from an A road instead of the 300 yard walk from the unclassified road, but it was worth it.

Absolute silence.

It was how, I guess, it would have been for people prior to mechanisation, perfectly still save for nature and the local church bell tolling in the distance.

I was here to do pinhole, and I hope that I haven’t fluffed up my metering reading for that –  I do hope it comes out in a similar vain to the shot above (which is a 12 x 6 crop of an 8 shot panorama).  Here is a link to the pinhole shot on Flickr.

Note to diary, everything is 18% Grey, even snow…

Had a lovely chat with a teacher who was out with his kids, before his daughter got called in to work. (If you’re reading this don’t forget to drop me a note).

So thats one of two of my Nine Stones Close tick list ticked off.  The next is the mid summer moon rise between the two rocky out crops that you see in the background to the left – not quite sure how I will pull that one off in pinhole, but we’ll see!

“The rock, the mountain, the sky, the canyon, the coyote, the stars; all travelers in time, as am I. It calms me down, the vastness of it all.”

Unfortunately I didn’t say that, these great words come from Guy Tal in his blog post The Art and the Life. I’d recommend that you read all of his post.  That one sentence does sum up for me what landscape photography is all about, but its something that I struggle to articulate both verbally and photographically at the best of times.  The key thing for me is that photography isn’t my job, its my re-creation, its my downtime from work and all the strife that it creates. Whilst I can fall out with photography from time to time , “it calms me down”.

Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria